Packer for wells.



A. O. GRAHAM.

PAGKER FOB. WELLS. APPLIOATION FILED 1120.12, 1910.

995,250." Patented June 13, 1911.

5 3i i i 4 1 I I 1 7 1 a 1 1 ATTORNEYS arm ALBERT CLARENCE GRAHAM, F OILFIELDS, CALIFORNIA.

racxna non WELLS.-

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J une 13, 1911.

Application filed December 12, 1910. Serial No. 596,974. 1

To all whom it may concern: Be it, known that I, ALBERT C, GRAHAM,

- a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Oilfields, in the county of Fresno and State of California, have'invented a new and Improved Packer for Wells, of which through strata of different materials, and

that some of these strata contain a large amount of water. This water will flow into the mine or well, carrying with it lar e amounts of the surrounding earth, and it is necessary in some way to seal up these portions, so that the water will not flow into the well. This is frequently doneby insert.- ing a stopper of cement or other hardenin plastic material, and then drilling through the cement in order to insert other casing in order to continue the sinkin of the well. Heretofore it has been foun necessary to withdraw the cement-receiving casing or packer, and sometimes it has been found necessary to even withdraw the casing itself, remove the packer and re-insert thecasing. This is objectionable in that it delays the work, it is expensive to reinsert the casing 1which is often distorted and rendered useess. C

One object of-my invention is to provide a new and improved packer which may be inserted within the casing already in position and which is left in place in the casing after the insertion of the cementing material.

A further object of my invention is to provide "a novel means by which the packer be positioned at the end of the casing. further object is to provide means whereby the cementing material will firmly lock the. packer in place, and a still further object is to provide means whereby the lowering device may bedisconnected from the packer-without disarranging it in its position at the endofthe casing.

I attain these objects by inserting into any common form of well casing a packer having means projectin therefrom adapted to v hook on the end of t e casing, and having a .pipe leadin thereto, acting both as a lowermg device orthe packer and as a conduit, adapted to transmit a cementing material to the body portion of the packer, and further rotating the pipe in 1t is so arranged that b one direction it is packer. 1 i 1 With the above and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear,"the present invention consists in certain novel details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fullv descnbed, illustrated 1n the accompanying drawings, and more plarticularly pointed out in the appended c aims.

isengaged from the Reference is to be had to the accompany- 7 ing drawings formin a part of this specification, in which the figure shown is a vertical elevation, partly in cross section, show ing in improved acker in position at the end 0 the casing, the whole being positioned adjacent the bottom of the well.

The well A here shown has positioned therein a common form of easing B, havin its lower end-reinforced by any preferred form of shoe C, threaded on to the casing B by a right-hand thread connection disposed adjacent the rim D.

Positioned within the casing B is a cylindrical open-ended cast-iron packer .1, the upper end 2 of which has a central left-hand threaded opening 3. Rei'novably inserted into this opening 3, is a left-h and'threaded pipe section 4, forming a conduit for the passage of cementing material .to the packer 1 and also constitutlng means by wh1ch the packer is lowered into position. Above the threads at the end of the pipe section 4, is a sleeve 5, by means of which the insertion of the pi e into the packer 1 is'limited. A

short istance above the sleeve 5, the pipe 4 is threaded with a right hand screw 6, and upon these threads is a sleeve 7. Resting upon the outer face of the upp r end 2 of the packer and bearing agaiplst t he sleeve 7,

is a funnel-shaped swa ge ple 8. This swa e nipple bears against t e outer edge of t e top of the acker 1, and acts as a reinforcement for t is cast-iron member. As the packer is 'made of this frangible material, any distortion of the'member while it is bein inserted into the casing would quite likely reak it, and this nipple protectsthe packer until it is in position. The lower open end 9 of the packer; is slotted at 10, and through these slots project sprlng dogs 11, which are fastened at their upper ends to the inside of the packer 1 by bolts 12.

Each of these dogs has an .by membranes 15,

' in the drawing, the flanged ends 16 of whiclu apertures 14.

.. threaded connection 3,

' top of the packer may the same time,

tinue the casing to form a tight packing with the sides of the When it is desired to form a seal in the well, the casing B, together with its attached shoe, C, is lowered almost to the bottom of the well. The packer 1 to which is threaded the pipe 4 by means of the left-hand is vlowered into the It will be seen that the dogs 11 within the casing, will press against the side of the casing until they reach the end when they will be released and spring outward into the space at the end of the'casing or at the end of the shoe in whichcase the lips 13 will engage the outer endof the shoe or may even engage with the side of the well itself. During this downward movement, the packer is protected by the swage nipple and no distortion is likely to occur which might afterward casing. being confined .interfere with the unthreading of the pipe section 4 from the packer 1 After the packer is lowered into posi tion at the end ,of the shoe, cement, concrete or any other cementing material, is inserted through the pipe 4 into the packer 1. This cement will flowrout through the open end 9 of the packer, andwill fill up the space below the packer and will, of course, fill up the hollow space in the packer itself. At

the pressure of this filler will act against the-membranes 15, forcing them outward against the inside of the casing B orcagainst the inside of the shoe C, thereby firmly locking the packer in position. It is to be understood that these membranes may be omitted, in which case a little of the cementing material would flow out through the apertures 14 and in hardening .would firmly lock the packer in place.

After the cementing material .has set sufficiently, the 1pipe section 4 may be unscrewed from t e packer 1, and together with the swage nipple, withdrawn. It will be noted that in view of the fact that this pipe 4 is connected to the packer 1 by a lefthand screw thread, the unscrewing of this pipe will, if anything, tighten up the connection-between the shoe and the casing. After this pipe section is withdrawn, the

easilybe drilled out and a bore may be drilled through the .cementingmaterial itself in order to conthe bottom of the well.

'and all statements of the scope As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matters contained; herein in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is merely intended to 'cover all the generic and specific features of-the invention herein described of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween and that materials, sizes and relativities of parts-are non-essential, except as called for in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination with a casing for wells,

a shoe on the end of said casing, a packer within the'casing, dogs projecting from the packer and enga 'ing sai shoe, and means on the packer, forming a tight joint between the packer and the casing.

2. In combination with a casing for wells, a packer within the casing, means projecting from the packer engaging said casing, a conduit conveying cementing. material to the packer, and means on the packer whereby the cementing material will cause a tight joint to be formed between the packer an casing.

3. In combination with a well casing, a packer comprising a hollow body portion, a cementing material conduit leading to said packer, and means on said packer whereby the cementing material will form a tight joint between the casing and packer.

4. In'combinatio'n with a casing, a packer within said casing, said packer having apertures therein, and flexible means covering said apertures, whereby a filler in said packer will force the means against said casing and connect the packer with the casing.

5. In a mining device,

.a lowering device, a packer carried by said lowering device, anchoring means on said packer whereby the packer may be attached to the surrounding wall after it is "lowered, and hook means on said packer whereby it may be hooked to the end of the surrounding wall.

6. In combination with a'casing having a threaded outer end, a shoe threaded to said end and projecting therefrom, a packer within sai casing, spring dogs projecting from the interior of said packer and engaging the packer whereby the latter is attached to said casing. j

7. In combination with a casing having a end of said shoe, means on said threaded outer end, a shoe threaded to said casing, a packer within said casing, spring dogs projecting from the interior of said packer and engaging the end of said shoe, means on said packer whereby the latter is attached to said casing,- and a conduit leading to said packer.

8. In a packer for wells a packer having a broad upper bearing surface, a pipe in 10 threaded engagement with said pair of sleeves on said pipe adjacent its connection with said. packer, a nipple carried by said pipe, and slidable between saidsleeves and bearing against the said surface 7 whereby the connection between the packer acker, a

and pipe is reinforced, and whereby the nipple is withdrawn with the pipe.

9. In combination with a casing, a hollow packer within said casing, means leading to said packer for conveying a filling thereto, and means carried by said packer whereby the filling will cause said packer to adhere to said casing.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT CLARENCE GRAHAM.

Witnesses:

D; Hnsom, R. S. FINE. 

